Structural material



March 30 ,1926.

H. F. FREASE STRUCTURAL MATERIAL Filed August 28, 1923 i 3 Sheets-Sheet L n95 I y? HMLW m1 m ffurxiiml iz'eld Tram.

' Q fl iforneym Match 30,1926. v I 1,578,416

- H. F. FREASE STRUCTURAL MATERIAL Filed August 28, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.4 7

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H. F. FREASE STRUCTURAL MATERIAL March 30 1926.

Filed August 28, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet :5

\ v rzv erzi'ar Hand/ml Field Frame Affar-neyw sheet stock.

Patented Mar. 30', 1926.

" UNITED, STATES 1 mmxrmr. rmtnrnnasn; or CANTON, OHIO.

PATENTOFFICE] s'raucrun'n. MATERIAL.

Application filed August 28, 1923. Serial- No. 659,716.

A further object of my invention to lath are 'apparently of truss formation but provide from sheet stock a structural material of continuous truss formation which ma Withstand stresses in any direction.

Sheet products now available such as metal are not in the strict sense of the Word structural .materials because their function. as.

stress members, if any, is only secondary. These products are designed primarily for such purposes as retaining plaster on walls.

They have beenused to take stress in. one

direction; namely, as tension members in" concrete remforcmg; but their use as mam.

structural members is strictly limited. The commercial expanded metal sheets, while having length and breadth','have not sufiia cientdepth to provide the necessary inherent sheet of expanded metal, but requires the strength and rigidity to withstand stresses from any direction- The present invention overcomes this difliculty. Y

Another object of my invention is to provide from narrow gauge sheet stock a strucl tural material of continuous truss formation which has. trussj elements of substantial length as well as depth. 'In ordinary ex-i panded metal an increase'in the length of truss elements such as the strands requires an increase in the gauge of the sheet stock in order to maintain suflicient cross-sectional dimensions of each individual strand to avoid failure by buckling. This fact not only increases the weight of the resulting loss of the more desirable tensile properties of narrow gauge sheets, and also increases the required power of the fabricating machines. The present invention .provides a continuous truss formation having any desired length of element from any'desired gauge of sheet stock.

Another objectof my invention is to provide from narrow gauge sheet stock a structural material of continuous truss formation WlllCh may be easily'made entirely byma-nual operat ons. One of the deterrents to a. greaterovarlety s tructura uses other than mere-plaster carry mg or concrete reinforcing lies in the fact that an expensive machine is required for making each particular mesh shape and di- IIIGIISIOHS? It is difiicult if not impossible to provide'ordinary metal lath having dimensions of mesh, strands, and bonds of any other than that fixed by the conditions of operation of n the comparatively few expanded metal fabricating' machines. Still another objection to ordinary meta-l lath as a structural material is that no varietyof vmetallic base is practically possible. Or,

ofeapplicatio-ns of metal lath to dinary metal, lath fabricating machines are designed to receive a'sheet steel stock having particular elastic properties. If it were desired t0 'l 1SB sheet stock of another-material such as duralumin, serious difficulties would be encountered-in adapting the present machinesto the. new stock. The'present inven-' tionpi'ovides a" structural material of 'continuous truss formation which may be and has been accuratelyand satisfactorily made sheet-stocks of a variety of by hand from metals. i

Another object of my invention is to provide from narrow gauge sheet stock a struc- T tural material of continuous truss formation which has bonds and strands of dimensions sufficient for .positive connection with, other structural materials by means of rivets, eyelets, or the like. I

In aircraft construction in particular, it is a requirement of-United States'Government specifications that members taking tension, loads shall bejoined together by posi 'tive fastenings. It has been found inconvenient to meet these specifications by the use of ordinary metal lath. The resent in vention has bond and strand imensions which are adapted for positive fastening to' other structural elements. 7 Still another object'of the present invention is to provide a material which may be used as a continuous web in built up girder construction. Ordinary metal lath is not adapted by weight or mesh characteristics to such use. The "present invention has been applied with satisfactory .results to such Figure 1 is a top plan of the structural a structural use. Duralumin girders were constructed having flan e members joined to a continuous web mem er made according to the present disclosure.

A preferred embodiment of the invention and various applications of its uses are illustrated in the accompanying drawings Q sheet blank;

Fig. 6, an end elevation ofthe same; TFig. 7, a top plan View of'the "application of the invention .to an internallybraced airplane wing;

' Fig. 8, a view showing method oflfas v .tening the airplane rib -to the material of the present invention; a Fig. 9, a view of the rib alone; i I

Fig. 10, a fragmentary cross-section along jects of the invention: that is, to provide line X, 4 1 0 Fig. 11,- a view of the ffastenmg strip before folding -j sible bythe present invention;

throughout the drawings.

I midway between the'rows of bonds and slits.

Neither of these details iireessential. ,The- 56 .%ongitu dina l bonds and slits, and folding Figs. '13,. 14, and 15, are views-of vari: ous strandcross-sections; and

' Fig. 16 is a side elevationof a variation in strand construction.

Similar numerals refer to similar p'arts An understanding of the ,invention ma -best be attained by first following throug a method of making the structural, material of the resent disclosure. v

In Fig.4, a sheet blank 1 has been provided wlth a plurality of slits 2 and bonds 3 alternatin with each otherdengthwise and crosswise o the sheet. Longitudinal folding lines 4 areshow-njbetween' longitudinal rows of bonds and slits. In the drawing longitudinal rows .of bonds and slits, and

of folding lines are shown parallel with each other; and the folding lines are shown mes may converge; and the folding; lines may be displaced at unequal distances from the longitudinal lines of bonds andslits. .In Fig.5, the same sheetblank is shown after it has been folded alternately along the folding lines andthe longitudinal lines of bonds and strands, thus leatingthe sheet blank as shown more clear y in Fig. 6, and profidin a new formation having a substantial epth as well as a substantial length and breadt 1, as distinguished from the origs, 9, 10 an Fig. 12, a viewofabuilt-up girder having an integral webconstruction made posv truss formation is made more strong andfolding.

slight depth being oneof the essential characteristics of sheet metaL' The formation shown Tin Figs. 5 and 6, may now be'considered to be made u of a plurality of continu ous laterally fo ded strands-5 and bonds strands:

A lateral separation of the bonds 3 of the formation shown in Figs. 5 and 6, will produce the continuous truss formation of the present invention shown in detail in Figs. 1, 2, and: .3; and in application in Figs. 7,

Fig. 13 is a cross-section of any of the strands 5 of the embodiment of the invention J illustrated in Figs. 1, 2; 3, 5, and 6-. F igs.

14-. and.15*'are cross-sections of two of the many different Ways in. which strip strands 3 joining adjacent may --be formed to ,increase their beam strength, which are readily produced by Slighfi variations in the above described method of producing the structural ma.-

terial of the present invention. These crosssect ons bring out one of the important obfor long strands in a continuous sheet truss formation by'having strantls of typical and variable beam cross-section.

. It is readily seen that the continuous rigid by the insertin of longitudinal fixing members 6-in th e bond channels 7 of bonds 3 and fastening the bonds to the fixing members by welding or otherwise.

, Likewise crosswise fixing members might be employed. Fig.v 7 shows a partially builtup airplane wing structure where the integral truss formation of bonds 3 and beamstrands 5 have been combined with longitudinal fixing members or spars 6 and ribs 81' Fig. 8 is an end View of a. completed wing structure, and Fig. 10 shows more clearly the method of fastening the bonds 3 in the by means ofthe Ifdlding coverstripflO.

The girder 11 shown in Fig. 12, is another f notches 9'of the ribs 8 application of the structural material of the present invention to practical use. Here longitudinal flange membersf12 have been joined to an integral web made up of beamstrands 5 and bonds 3, the bondsh'aving been subject where required to a hinge like unfolding at 13. It is obvious-that a girder having any number of longitudinalflange members 12 and but one integral web made up of beam-strands 5'and bonds 3.'Ii1ay be constructed by the useof the continuous truss formation of the present invention.

Fig. 16 illustrates a method'of reinforcing the strands of the present invention by means of eyelets 14 which fasten-the strand folds to each other, and} resist their un- It is to be understood that while the draw ings show each strand having a single fold, any number of folds may be employed, and all strands need not be made up of the same number of folds. 1

Moreover, while the bonds in the drawings are shown equally spaced'from each other in the same and alternate longitudinal rows, unequally spaced bonds may be employed.

I claim: I j

1. A structural material including a. plurality of continuous laterally folded strands and spaced bonds joining adjacent strands.

21A structural material including'a phi-'- ralityof continuous laterally folded strands and spaced bonds integrally joining the edges of adj acent' strands.

3. A rigid Web formation including'a plurali-ty of continuous elements each having a formed strip cross-section of substantial width and depth, adjacent elements being joined at intervals.

4." A rigid web formation including a pl-urality of continuous elements each having a formed strip cross-sectionof-substantial width and depth,,adjacent elements being rality of strands and spaced bonds joining adjacent strands, some of the strands having a plurality of continuous lateral folds, and there beingmeans reinforcing the strand folds. a u 7. A structural material including a plurality'of strands and spaced hon s joining adjacent strands, some of the strands .hav-' ing ,a plurality of continuous lateral folds,

and there being means fastening the strand folds to. each other. -8. A structural material including a plurality of strands and spacedbonds joining intervals without A adjacent strands, some of the strands having I plurality of continuous lateral folds,, and there being means resisting the unfoldingof the folds. T

' HURXTHAL FIELD FREASE. 

